I'm going to read to you the scripture that was read to us. 1 John chapter one verses one to ten. If there's any title I want to give to the message, I call them the five eves. Eves, RF. First John From verse 6 to 10, you will see the ifs there. If we say, in verse 6, in verse 7, if we walk. In verse 8, if we say that. In verse 9, if we confess our sins. And in verses 10, if we say that we have. So, the ifs will be our focus this morning. But before we go into that, at the beginning of that chapter, John was trying to tell the people about what they know about God. In verse one, he said that that which we are from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, and which we have looked upon, our hands have handled of the word of life. was trying to talk about God while being a young person. My greatest difficulty was trying to look at how is God. I don't know, sometimes I try to describe him. And as a child, I always think maybe he has an image beyond my understanding. But if you look at what the scripture says, it says God is a what? Is a spirit. God is a spirit. But John here this morning is trying to give another picture of who God is. He said, God is light. If you look into verse five, he said, this then is the message which we have heard of him and declared unto you that God is light. God is light. Light reveals the truth. Light is pure. And that truth is eternal. If there's a lot of darkness here right now, it will be so dark, as if you cannot even see your hands. Things will become obscure to you. Things will not be revealed to you. Anywhere there's darkness, you can't move with speed. Your speed will be limited because you need to be careful. But when there's light, light brings revelation. You see clearly. Obscurity is gone. Darkness gives way. No matter how dark a place is, just a tiny beam of light makes a lot of difference. And that light can be seen far off, if necessary, kilometers ahead. And John is telling us this morning, giving us the picture of who God is. And he's saying, God is light. And that light reveals the truth. And that truth is eternal. That truth does not change. That truth has nothing to do with cultural changes. That's the problem so many people have with the church. Cultures are changing. Humanity is advancing. Why are you people not changing? This truth does not change. This truth is eternal. Scripture says, forever, oh God, your word is settled in heaven. It is not meant for human debates. And that is the God whom we have come to. God is light. Another expression of who God is, is that God is good. If there's anything good, then that is God. While we're reading the book of Genesis this morning, while he was creating, he said, after creating it, he saw that is good. After creating that, he saw that is good. God is good. The goodness is one of the attributes of God. It describes the essence. It describes the nature of God. God is inherently good himself. You can't separate a man and its nature. You can't separate a person and his nature. The nature of God is that God is good. When you look at creation, when you look at the diversity of life, when you look at how he has created access for the needs of humanity, you can't just but judge him good. God is good. Psalm 34 verse eight says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. He is the foundation of goodness, and everything about God is good. God did not obtain his goodness from any source. His goodness comes from him. He is just good, and that is who he is. People have traits of being good, but goodness is not in our character. Our goodness comes from God. Most oftentimes, men are selfish. If there's things to share, oftentimes, our natural self will tell you, take more, keep more for your son, keep more for your wife, if possible, keep more for tomorrow. But that is not God. God is good. Genesis 1.31 says that God saw that all that he made, both male and female, and he says it's good. Matthew 5.45 says, he causes the sun to shine on the evil and the good. He sends rain both on the righteous and on the unrighteous. That is the goodness of God. The God, the Lord is good to all and his mercy endureth forevermore. So the goodness of God is the core of our Christian faith. It's the core of our Christian faith. It is because his desire for us is good. That is why he has provided salvation for us. Salvation is like the pinnacle of that goodness that all men may come to him. So when we talk about the description about God's goodness, The goodness keep moving on and moving on, and the crescendo is that men may come unto him. Another characteristics of God in this scripture, which we've read this morning, is that God is pure. God is morally pure. God will not compromise sin. He doesn't compromise sin. God is holy. As a young boy in high school, I remember some of my friends who always shout, holy, holy, holy, he is three times holy. He will not compromise sin, he will judge sin. Is that the God you've got to know? Is that the God you believe in? That doesn't joke with sin? That doesn't compromise sin? But brings all sins to judgment? These are the characteristics of God. So we must know the God that we have come up to so that we will know how we deal with him. Because he is the standard. We are the variables. He doesn't change. It is we that change. So we've gotten the characteristics of who he is. He is light. He is pure. He is good. God has so many attributes, but for the sake of the scripture we're reading this morning, I just want to make those emphases for foundational basis so that we can move along and build on that. So God is good, God is pure, and God is light. The scripture move on in that verse five and says that in him there is no darkness at all. There is no darkness. There's no darkness. You can't find darkness in him. And darkness talks about the work of the evil one. Paul, while speaking in the book of Ephesians, says that the Galatians have been darkened in their mind. So in him, there's no darkness at all. God is light, God is pure, and God is good. So let's go into our ifs this morning, our five ifs. John here this morning was speaking, in the scripture here, was speaking to believers, people who had known God, people who profess that they are Christians, people who identify with the church of God. People who had openly, if possible, had their public baptism and said that, I now belong to the Christian faith. The first Eve in verse six. If we say, no, okay, yeah, that's verse six. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and we walk in darkness, we lie, and we don't have the truth. To walk. is not something you mistakenly do. Walk there, maybe for pronunciation's sake, is W-A-L-K. To walk is something that is done with consciousness. Walking is not an involuntary action. Walking is a voluntary action. It's something you know. It's not like your heart being beaten and you don't have control over it. It says that if we say that we have fellowship with this light, we've made emphasis that God is light. And if we say that we have fellowship with this light and we walk in darkness, we lie. And the truth is not in us. That is not the truth. If you confess and you proclaim to be a believer and your attitude on Monday to Saturday does not match your profession of faith, you lie. That is what the scripture is telling us this morning. You can't be a part-time Christian. Oh, in the church, the church people know I'm a Christian, but I also have those kind of friends, you know, I roll with. You lie. This is the scripture and this is the word of God. Oh, there's another skill you need to use at the marketplace. You can't use the same skill at any place. You lie. If we are fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. That is what scripture is telling us this morning. We must walk in light and if we walk in darkness, we are lying and we do not have the truth. We must love the truth and stand for the truth and do not compromise the truth. We must be Christians every day and everywhere. Our Christianity is not, we are the light of the world, not of the church. Our Christianity is not bounded by barriers. We are Christians everywhere we go. We identify with him everywhere we go. We are people laying down their lives, going through pain and ache for the sake of this gospel. And that is what he has called us to be. If we say we have fellowship with that light, and we walk in darkness, we're lying. Let me tell you a joke, a biblical joke. I always joke with my daughter. One of the reasons why the Potica sons went back home is a joke, so don't quote me, was he found it hard that he had to pay bills. He felt it was just easy. He just left home. Then when he met with poverty, then he knew it was hard to pay bills. So he returned home. It's hard to pay the bill of your sin. You can't pay it. Someone had paid it. And that's that person named Jesus. And that is the one who has died for you. And scripture reminded us that if anyone would call on him and cry unto him and call on the name of a living God, that you shall receive. So the emphasis in verse five in the first if this morning, if you claim that you walk with him and you still walk in darkness, you lie. So stop lying to yourself. Come to yourself. Is there anything the prodigal son said? He said, and the prodigal son came to himself. Have you come to yourself? Are you telling yourself the truth? You can deceive everyone. Stop deceiving yourself. God is not mocked. Don't lie to yourself. Tell yourself the truth. And the prodigal son said, I will arise and go to my father. That is what God is asking you to do this morning. Arise and come to your father. Verse seven. But if we walk in light and with fellowship with one another, if we walk in light, if you're doing the opposite of what it is in verse six, but if you walk in light, then we are fellowship with one another. And that's where there's a problem. If you claim to walk a light, and I'll use this opportunity to speak to my brothers and sisters, watching online, sitting on the couches, on the bed, you have no reason to be at home. You have every legal reason to be in church, to be with God's people. If you claim to be in light, you will have fellowship. You will do everything possible to have fellowship with one another. You will do. Oh, someone says, oh, but if I'm a missionary, far off. God knows that. But if you are in the assembly and there's an assembly of God's people, God says you should not forsake the assembly of God's people. So you have no excuse. You should have fellowship with one another. You should be with God's people. I was sharing on Thursday, the mighty prophet Elijah, after having high times confronting the 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah, just one threat by Jezebel, he became afraid. He started running. He became suicidal. He had suicidal thoughts. He said, God, I'm the only one, I'm the only one. And God said, I have 7,000 people who have not bowed to bow. Maybe what you're going through, or maybe the thoughts you are going through is because you choose to be out of fellowship. You can't afford to be in fellowship, out of fellowship, if you are walking in light. You can worship virtually, but you need to be in fellowship with God's people. You need to be in God's house because that is where you belong. The first commandment in the scriptures, the 10 commandments, the very first five talks about our relationship with God. The last five talks about our relationship with man. We need to have fellowship with one another. We can't separate the fellowship from one another. And in that fellowship, may I ask you, what is the testimony about you? Some people just say, oh, I don't want to be known in church. I just want to worship. Take my Bible. Once they share the grace, I disappear. If you walk in light, we'll have fellowship with one another. If you claim to walk in light, if, because all these ifs are claims, and the burden of proof is on you, if you claim to walk in light, we would have fellowship with one another. And the scripture says, when we have fellowship with one another, the blood of Jesus cleanses us. There is a cleansing in the place of fellowship. There is forgiveness there. He says that, and if we have fellowship with one another, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sins. So that is what you are taking yourself away from. You need to be in fellowship. That's the second Eve. You need to be in fellowship with God's people. You can't deceive yourself too long. You need to be in fellowship with God's people. In the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 22, verse 36 to 40, Jesus, the man asked Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? He said, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, your soul, and your mind. And he said, the second commandment is likened to it, you shall love your neighbor as what? As yourself. So you can't claim to be walking in light, you can't claim to be part of the God's people, and you are not fellowshiping. You can't be a solo Christian. You are not called to that. You have fellowship with one another. You relate with one another. And in that fellowship, what is your testimony? What is said about you? As a father, in fellowshipping with your children, what is the testimony about you? As an offspring, what is the testimony about you? The conscience of a Christian is supposed to be a tender conscience. It's not supposed to be a hard one. It's supposed to be a conscience that is receptive and hearing the word of God. And as it's a seed, as it's been planted, it grows up. You look at yourself in the mirror and you adjust yourself with the word of God and you keep growing. So that is the second if. So if you partake in the fellowship, The reward is that the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all sins. That's our if. If we say that we have no sin at all, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That is the kind of God people want. A God that doesn't judge sin. A God that loves everybody. Just come the way you are. Do what you want. I love you. People project a Father Christmas God, a happy God that gives ice cream to all humanity. It doesn't judge anyone. The grace have done it all. Just continue. No. No, the scripture says that if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So stop deceiving yourself. Stop deceiving yourself. Some people even go further to preach sinless perfectionism. I'm sinless, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Even when I make a mistake, no, you sin, confess your sin. and regret of your sin and ask him to bring you out to the path of righteousness. Don't behave like the Pharisee that stood like himself. He said, God, I thank you that I'm not like that other tax man. I'm not like that unjust adulterer or like that tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithe of all that I have. But the tax collector standing thereof will not even lift up his eyes unto heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful unto me. I am a sinner. I tell you, the man that did that, asking God for forgiveness, went home justified. That is what the scripture says. So, in our third if, if we say that we have no seed, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us and we are lying. So, and the emphasis is that stop deceiving yourself. Come to the terms that you are a sinner. Come to the terms that you are a sinner and that you need salvation. No matter how good you are, no matter how perfect you think you can be, oh, I'm a kind person. I'm just a gentle species. You know, one thing that is one of our problems is that we want to always judge people by our standards. Who says, oh, no, no, no, no. I think I'm still better off. That guy is a worse sinner than I am. In fact, this message I'm hearing now may not likely be for me. It may be just for some people around here, you know. Stop deceiving yourself. Come to the terms. That's what the scripture says. The fourth if. If we confess our sins, and that's where God wants us to be. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins. Have you confessed your sin? Do you pray prayers of confession of sin? God is faithful and just. That's what the scripture said. God is faithful and just. Charles Spurgeon said, the glory of God's faithfulness is that no sin of ours has ever made him unfaithful. No sin of ours has made him unfaithful. Wayne Grudem, another author, said, God faithfulness means that God will always do what he said and fulfill what he has promised. He will always do what he said. And if we confess our sins, scripture says he's faithful and just to forgive us. Jeff Helg, he said that you will make mistakes. He said you would disappoint God and others. You will have days when you will wonder why God have ever called you in the first place. Don't despair. Your usefulness to God is based on his consistency and not on yours. Your call is sustained by God's faithfulness and not yours. So brothers and sisters, if we confess our sin is faithful and just to forgive us of all our righteousness. And there we can able to sing the song that amazing grace. How sweet that sound. You can say that I am a sinner saved by grace. And that's what God is calling us to this morning. I'm a sinner saved by grace. The last Eve, five Eve. If we say that we have not seen, we make him a liar. and his word is not in us. If we say that we have not seen, we make him a liar. And we say that his word is not in us. If we say that we have not seen, that means we want to produce a God that wants everyone happy, irrelevant of what they do or they desire. That's what the society wants. Everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to do what they desire. No one wants to be judged. Don't judge me. God doesn't judge. We say God cannot judge, and we say God cannot punish. But Isaiah 33 verse 20 said, for the Lord is our judge, and the Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king, and he will save us. Romans 2 verse 16 says that God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Second Timothy verse 4 verse 3 says that for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching anymore, but have itchy ears and they will accumulate for themselves teachers that suit their own passions. They'll create teachers that suit their own passions. They're more than a God they want, and tell themselves that this is the way God is. This is the way I want to be, and I think that's the way God is. The emphasis here is that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar. And His word is not in us. And God is not a liar. It's either you are lying or you are deceiving yourself. Have you confessed your sins? Do you know God's forgiveness? Are you walking in the light of God because God is light? Have you come to that sense that you can't pay that bill yourself, but someone had paid that bill for you? is what God is telling us this morning. Amen.